Dianne Brame, the cafeteria manager at Hudson Elementary School in Webster Groves, Missouri, said she knows each one of her students by name. Brame took a special interest in one fourth grade boy. She noticed that he used to be on the free lunch program, but he had not been renewed to continue receiving free meals. Brame believed that was because his mother, who does not speak English, did not understand the paperwork for getting access to the meals.

So Brame stepped in and tried communicating with the family through the mail, but to no avail. Any kids who do not have current eligibility status are allowed to receive only three free regular meals. After that, the protocol is that these kids receive only a cheese sandwich and a carton of milk. Brame feared that the boy would be made fun of or bullied. So she gave him a free regular lunch for two months.

An employee reported Brame's actions to Chartwells, the food service company employed by the school that prepares the food served to the students. Chartwells then fired Brame. But the story does not end there.

When Chartwells found out the full details of the boy's story and why Brame took the actions that she did, they rehired her and said it was all just a misunderstanding. They released the following statement: "Chartwells appreciates the concern of this employee, and of all of our employees, who put the well being of school children first."

Brame told local TV station KSDK that she knew she had broken the rules, but she was trying to prevent the young man from being made fun of, and she would do it all over again, adding, "I don't think any kid should be hungry."

Well, I'm gonna go for the other side on this one and say she deserved to be fired, but hear me out. You own a company. You have to pay yourself and everyone else, as well as all of your operating expenses to keep your company running. One employee is giving things away for free for months without telling anyone. What do you do? You fire them. I fully understand that what she was doing was for a noble cause, but there are ways to handle situations properly and not, and the way she handled it just wasn't right in this situation. If she wanted to donate the money herself to pay, then sure. If she wanted to talk to someone higher up about helping the kid, great. If she wanted to make further attempt to get the kid signed up properly, no problem. But giving away food for free that isn't hers to give away is the wrong way to handle the situation, even if it was meant to be a kind act. She even admitted that she was in the wrong. I'm glad to see the her and her employer were able to work it out and let her keep her job though. I'd hate for someone's kind actions get thrown back in their face, regardless of if it was right or not.

Well, I'm gonna go for the other side on this one and say she deserved to be fired, but hear me out. You own a company. You have to pay yourself and everyone else, as well as all of your operating expenses to keep your company running. One employee is giving things away for free for months without telling anyone. What do you do? You fire them. I fully understand that what she was doing was for a noble cause, but there are ways to handle situations properly and not, and the way she handled it just wasn't right in this situation. If she wanted to donate the money herself to pay, then sure. If she wanted to talk to someone higher up about helping the kid, great. If she wanted to make further attempt to get the kid signed up properly, no problem. But giving away food for free that isn't hers to give away is the wrong way to handle the situation, even if it was meant to be a kind act. She even admitted that she was in the wrong. I'm glad to see the her and her employer were able to work it out and let her keep her job though. I'd hate for someone's kind actions get thrown back in their face, regardless of if it was right or not.

To add, I have seen this done in the past, but the person paid for the kids lunch themselves out of their pockets, not out of the companies.

It's most unfortunate that we live in a world where people get more angry about losing a company a couple of bucks of profit than they do about a child going hungry. I'm glad she got her job back, one good turn deserves another.